Former Vice President Kamala Harris faced swift Republican backlash after calling on Democrats to consider expanding the Supreme Court and reforming the Electoral College the next time they are in power.
Harris made the comments during a call with Emerge, a left-wing nonprofit organization focused on recruiting Democratic women. Her remarks come as both parties scramble ahead of midterm elections following major redistricting decisions that have reshaped congressional maps across multiple states.
What the Left Is Saying
Some progressive voices have defended Harris's framing, arguing that recent Supreme Court decisions on redistricting represent a systematic attempt to suppress minority voting power. On the call with Emerge, Harris argued that court rulings allowing race-based gerrymandering considerations amount to institutionalized discrimination.
"What they have done with this decision, by saying that the politics of redistricting is okay, is they are back-dooring racism through politics," Harris said on the call. "What they are doing is intentionally about trying to suppress the voice of the people."
Harris also called for Democratic unity in responding to these developments. "We've got to neutralize this red state cheating," she continued. "There's a brutality at play on the other side, and a ruthlessness. And we need to play to win."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has pledged to pursue Democratic-friendly gerrymander pushes in blue and purple states including New York, New Jersey, Colorado, and Oregon, though those efforts would not take effect until 2028 at the earliest.
What the Right Is Saying
Republican leaders quickly condemned Harris's remarks as dangerous to democratic institutions. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., used particularly sharp language in his response.
"It's a dangerous thing, a dangerous gambit," the speaker said. "You don't just blow up the system when you lose."
Johnson directly addressed Harris by name, saying: "For the former vice president of the United States and a candidate for president to suggest that you should pack the Supreme Court or destroy these institutions because they lost is I just think outrageous." He accused Democrats more broadly of being "institutional arsonists" seeking to undermine American democratic structures.
Conservative Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., echoed those concerns in an interview with Fox News.
"That's why we can't let her become president," Norman said. "People rejected her before; they'll reject her again." He called Harris's comments "totally insane."
What the Numbers Show
The redistricting landscape has shifted significantly ahead of November elections. Republicans are emerging as clear beneficiaries of recent court decisions and map-drawing efforts.
GOP-led states have already completed new congressional maps, while Democratic gains have been limited primarily to California and Utah. Political analysts suggest Republicans could pick up more than a dozen seats from the redistricting process alone.
Earlier in May, Tennessee carved up its lone Black-majority district—a seat held for decades by a white Democrat—giving Republicans an opportunity to flip a seat they had long been unable to capture. Louisiana and South Carolina are pursuing similar efforts following the Supreme Court's decision curbing race-based redistricting considerations.
The Supreme Court ruled in late April to limit the use of race in drawing electoral districts, affecting Black-majority districts held by Democrats across the Southern United States. Additionally, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a Democratic-friendly gerrymander on procedural grounds earlier in May.
The Bottom Line
Harris's remarks underscore deep divisions within the Democratic Party over how to respond to unfavorable court rulings and electoral maps. While progressive voices have rallied behind calls for structural reforms, more centrist Democrats have cautioned against prioritizing constitutional changes over kitchen-table issues.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., offered a dissenting view within his own party: "I think that's putting the cart before the horse," he told Fox News. "Right now I'm focusing on lowering costs, health care, ending a runaway war that's costing Americans tens of billions of dollars. Those are the things that my constituents are talking to me about."
The political fallout from these comments remains unclear, but they highlight ongoing tensions between institutionalist and more aggressive reform-minded factions within the Democratic coalition as midterm elections approach.